Texas Twilight by Caroline Fyffe Read Free Book Online

it we both need a friend about now.” His arms swung loosely by
his side and his crooked smile was endearing. Every now and then
he’d nonchalantly grip a post as they passed, as if looking for
something to do. “What happened this morning after I saw you two on
the boardwalk? You were on your way to the shop with the key?”
    “When we got there the key wouldn’t open the
door. It looked as if someone had recently changed the lock. We
tried until my aunt was exhausted. She said she was tired and
wanted to lie down. But I know she is also upset. And worried.”
    “She’s back at the hotel?”
    “Yes, Dr. McCutcheon. I walked her back and
then went over to the mayor’s office right away. That is when I ran
into you.”
    “ Please,
you must call me
John. We’ve been through too much together to keep to such
formalities. Don’t you think?” He pointed playfully to his face and
the many stitches she’d so carefully made.
    Lily felt a thrill of happiness as she walked
by his side. “Only if you stop calling me Florence.” In her way of
thinking, the name was a nickname—something you would call a
special friend, and it just didn’t feel right. “Please just call me
Lily.”
    John looked at her skeptically, then
chuckled. “Um, I’ll try.”
    “I insist.”
    “Well, okay. If you put it like that. Did I
ever tell you I thought you very brave to climb onto the top of the
moving stage, between flying bullets and rampaging outlaws? Where
did you learn to shoot like that?”
    “From my brothers, Roland and Sigmund. They
are great sportsmen.”
    His brows lifted in interest. “Well, it’s a
good thing they did. How old are they?”
    “Roland is the oldest. He is twenty-seven,
married and has three little children. Sigmund is twenty-five and
still a bachelor. Mütti says he will never settle down and give her
any grandbabies.”
    “So,” John said, chuckling again. “You’re a
miniature Annie Oakley—as well as a Florence Nightingale.” He
quickly put up his hands defensively. “I’m not calling you that,
mind you.” He shrugged. “Just observing the truth. Do you have any
more talents I should know about?”
    “Why? So you can tease me?”
    “Maybe.”
    When he gave her a playful wink Lily couldn’t
help remembering how he’d held her so gently in his arms. All her
sisters would think him the handsomest man in the world. And truth
be known, she did too. Emma would love his hair and Giselle his
strong, manly jaw. His sensitive green eyes would be what Gretchen
would notice first. Ida and Louisa, being only twelve and eight,
would just love the “whole idea” of him—the cowboy doctor.
    “Not unless you count the ability of
balancing a plate on my head while dancing the waltz.”
    He stopped and his eyes opened wide.
“Seriously? That’s something I’d like to see.”
    She laughed, continuing down the boardwalk.
“Perhaps you shall.” He had to hurry to catch up. “And, I also play
the harpsichord.” His expression was one of amazed amusement. She
could not recall him ever looking so happy.
    They were passing a leather tannery and a
small speckled hen darted out the front door. It smacked wildly
into John’s leg then made a dive for Lily’s hemline. She gasped,
pitching towards John off balance.
    John clasped her by the shoulders. “Easy.
It’s just Chicken Little.”
    Lily laughed again, enjoying this new, more
easygoing Dr. McCutcheon very much. “You know that story, too? My
mother used to tell it to us girls. She used to say if the sky is
not falling, things cannot be all that bad. Look for ways to be
peacekeepers. There are two sides to every story.”
    John laughed appreciatively, nodding his
head. “Us girls?”
    “I have so many sisters that most young men
are too nervous to come to the Anthony home. Emma is twenty-three,
and she, too, is married, to our landlord’s son, Jürgen. They are
expecting their first child this winter and are hoping for a
Christmas baby. Then me.